Art & Music
Posted Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Solo Exhibition of Gerard Di Falco at DaVinci Art Alliance
November 1-30 | 2007 | DaVinci Art Alliance
One of Philadelphia’s most prolific, Episcopalian artists, Gerard (Jerry) Di Falco, will exhibit new works at the Da Vinci Art Alliance from November 1-30 in a solo show entitled, “QUANTUM CREATIVITY: RELICS OF THE OLD PHYSICS AND OF THE NEW ART”.
The gallery, located at 704 Catharine Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is just three blocks below South Street. Hours are: Fridays and Saturdays from 12 to 6:00pm; Sundays from 2 to 5:30pm; or, other times by appointment. An opening reception will be held in conjunction with First Fridays on Friday, November 2 from 5:00 to 7:30pm.
On Sunday November 11, Di Falco will present a slide-lecture at 3:00pm, “My Evolution in Art from 1977 to 2007”. A closing reception will be on Thursday, November 29, from 5:00 to 7:30pm, to honor this special artist. Di Falco has exhibited his liturgical and “Spiritual” paintings, icons, digital photos, and mixed media works at The Episcopal Cathedral of Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Show of Hands Gallery (shows at Show of Hands curated by Father Paul Harris), three of Box Heart’s Annual SPIRITUAL ART Exhibits, and at the final two years of the SACRED ART shows at the Coventry, Kentucky, Roman Catholic Cathedral. He will also have a solo exhibition of his icons at the CLOISTER GALLERY in Marblehead, MA, in 2008 (the art gallery at St. Andrew’s Episcopal).
Gerard is also a member and beginning curator with ECVA (Episcopal Church and Visual Arts). Di Falco also painted a unique portrait of Bishop Charles Bennison in 2005. This will be Di Falco’s twentieth solo-show in Philadelphia; moreover, he has exhibited in 250 solo and juried-group shows in other European and U.S. galleries, including those in Atlanta, Barcelona, Glasgow, Los Angeles, Madrid, Minneapolis, New York City, Pittsburgh, Richmond, and Washington, D.C.
Di Falco believes today’s artists must be as versatile as the Renaissance artists; consequently, he has worked successfully in many genres, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, assemblage, works-on-paper, mixed-media, environmental art, installations, and new technologies.
Di Falco, profiled in WHO’S WHO IN AMERICA and WHO’S WHO IN THE WORLD since 2004, won grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (NYC, 2002, $30,000) and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (1987 and 1992). In 2002, he was a “Resident Artist” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Art Futures Program).
As a painter, Di Falco is known for his vivid palette and daring subjects (e.g. “Societal Genres”, Nexus Gallery, 1988; “The Madrid Paintings”, Nexus Gallery, 1992; and, “Art of the State”, Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, 2007).
He also established a reputation as a conceptual artist through his pioneering work in installation art (beginning 1985). In ART GOLF (Nexus Gallery, Phila., 1986, and Pop Network Gallery, NYC, 1987), he constructed a miniature golf course that satirized aspects of the Art World (e.g. “The Art Dealer’s Hole”).
In this show at Da Vinci, DiFalco displays his strong dedication to the “spiritual” in his work, a stage which originated during his tenure with Creative Artists Network (1994, located at the Barclay in Philadelphia).
Di Falco’s expression of “the sacred” has matured and become more substantial over the past twelve years, as has his bold artistic style, technique, and vision. Gerard will show 136 assemblages which he titles, “RELICS”; these gold-painted, mixed-media assemblages contain bones, skulls, natural/ found/cast objects, & gold-leaf.
Di Falco’s RELICS push the limits of painting by crossing over into fiber-art and relief-sculpture. These works on canvas strike a strangely primordial balance between visionary and liturgical art; and, Di Falco claims inspiration for them from his studies in folklore, theology, and mysticism (from Early-Christian to contemporary).
Gerard will also exhibit fourteen, STATIONS OF THE CROSS (an Anglican- and Roman-Catholic Lenten meditation tool), as well as his “altar-installations,” which feature his painted icons.
For information, call 215-829-0466, or go to www.davinciartalliance.org.
